Start here / 6 min read

How to hide apps when screen sharing on a Mac

To hide other apps during a Mac screen share, share the presentation window or a single browser tab. For a demo across several apps, mark private apps or windows in ScreenVeil and share Privacy Screen. Your private apps stay usable locally. Focus handles interruptions; it does not hide open windows.

Keep Slack, email and notes out of a Mac screen share without quitting them. Compare sharing one window with ScreenVeil's filtered Privacy Screen window.

By ScreenVeilUpdated October 14, 2026

Illustration of a selective screen boundary separating private app tiles from a presentation. — Illustration

How do you hide an app without closing it?

Share a different window, or exclude the app from ScreenVeil's Privacy Screen output. Both let the private app stay open on your Mac. The mistake comes when you share the whole display instead: opening your inbox to fetch a link makes it part of the presentation.

There are a few ways to hide apps when screen sharing on a Mac. Start by sharing the smallest thing that shows your work. If a single browser tab is enough, you may not need another app at all.

Which sharing option fits your call?

Use a window for one document, a tab for one web page, and Privacy Screen when the presentation needs several apps while private work stays open.

Scroll sideways to compare →

What you're doing	Start with	Keep in mind
Presenting one document	Share its window	Check how menus and any separate slideshow window look in the share.
Presenting one web page	Share a browser tab, if your meeting app offers it	Anything you open in that tab is shared too.
Stopping notification banners	Focus and your notification settings	Private windows you already have open stay visible.
Switching between several apps	Share the Privacy Screen window	Mark your private apps first, then pick Privacy Screen in the meeting app.
Presenting a whole display	Clean up that display first	ScreenVeil can't filter a whole-screen share.

What stays on your Mac and what gets shared

The demo below shows your Mac and the shared Privacy Screen window. Switch "Hide private app" off and the private app appears in the share. Switch it back on and the app drops out of the share, while it stays open on your Mac.

Try it

Your Mac

Public presentation

Q3 product demo

Private team message

Let's talk after the demo.

Example message

Shared Privacy Screen

Public presentation

Q3 product demo

Private app hidden

The private app stays open on your Mac but isn't in the shared view. In a real call, you pick the Privacy Screen window in your meeting app.

Set up the Privacy Screen window

1
Choose the private apps
Open ScreenVeil from the menu bar and choose Privacy Screen mode. Mark your messaging, email or notes apps as private. Leave the apps you plan to present unmarked.
2
Start Privacy Screen
Keep its window open while you choose what to share. It's an ordinary window named Privacy Screen, so you won't find it under screens or Chrome tabs.
3
Select it in your meeting
Choose window sharing, then Privacy Screen. When ScreenVeil detects the share, it hides the window from your desktop. Leave the app running. If the window drops out of the picker, choose Show Privacy Screen from the menu.
4
Test it on a second device
With test content on screen, switch between the apps you'll present and open a private one. Watch from a second device, or play back a short test recording. The share should keep updating, and the private app shouldn't appear.

Can you hide just one browser tab?

ScreenVeil cannot remove a tab from a window you continue sharing. A whole-app rule also hides the public tabs in that app. For one web page, use the meeting tool's tab-sharing option.

For a demo across apps, move private tabs into a separate browser window and select it under Hide a window, or use a different browser app marked private. A Chrome profile separates accounts and history; it does not automatically exclude a window. Window selections reset when Privacy Screen stops, so select newly opened windows before resuming a share.

How to prepare private browser tabs

Where else can private information appear?

Check the small surfaces around the document as well as the document itself. These are the common exposure points covered by this guide; an app filter cannot erase text inside an app that remains public.

An open inbox, chat sidebar or recent-document menu can reveal names without opening a message.
Tab titles, window titles, bookmarks and account menus belong to the public window you selected.
Desktop filenames, Dock badges and menu-bar icons remain visible when your chosen source includes them.
macOS notification banners are excluded from Privacy Screen by default, as documented for the tested macOS 26.1 setup. App-drawn pop-ups and shared audio still need separate checks.

Current window and notification behavior

Do a quick test run

0 of 5 checked

I picked the Privacy Screen window rather than Desktop or Entire screen.
On the second device, the share updates when I change what I'm presenting.
Private apps don't appear when I open them.
Focus or Do Not Disturb is on, and private tabs are closed or in another browser.
I know ⌘⇧B covers the shared window, and I know how to stop sharing in the meeting app.

For your rehearsal. Selections stay on this page and are not sent anywhere.

Limits to know about

The filtering only applies to the Privacy Screen window. Another app that records your real screen can still see your private apps. Hide on My Mac is a separate mode that hides or moves private apps on your real desktop. If you reopen one of those apps while sharing your desktop, it's visible.

Stop sharing in the meeting app before you stop Privacy Screen. After you change displays or update macOS or the meeting app, do the test run again. The compatibility page lists what we've tested with each app and what we haven't yet.